Our water ways are filthy and one small team is finally doing something about it

If whales, dolphins and other marine animals could talk (to us, anyway), they’d want to give a big thank you to Andrew Turton and Pete Ceglinski. These two guys are behind the innovative Seabin, which is an automated rubbish bin that catches floating rubbish, oil, fuel, and other detergents in our waterways.

We spoke to co-founder Peter about the Seabin project and asked him a handful of questions about this brilliant design.

Who will be buying the Seabins? Who is your primary customer right now?

‘Marinas, ports and yacht clubs will be buying the Seabins, maintaining the Seabins and paying the running cost of the Seabins. These marinas, ports and yacht clubs are the ones providing us with less ocean plastics to swim in’.

Where are Seabins produced?

‘Our aim is to be as sustainable and responsible as we can in making the Seabins.

‘Seabins will be not be made in China, mass produced and then shipped all over the world just to obtain a cheaper price. Instead, we aim to have Seabins produced on a variety of continents to help boost local economy and reduce shipping costs which in turn reduces the price and reduces the carbon footprint of the Seabins.

‘The price of being more responsible and more sustainable is higher than the price of a mass produced product made in China but we are ok with that. The marinas who will install and operate the Seabins are ok with that also and the local businesses who will help produce Seabins are ok with that’.

Seabins are currently powered by water pumps. Tell us more about that.

‘The power for the water pumps at the moment is electric. We aim to develop this detail as best we can to use the least power possible to help clean the ocean plastics out of our harbours. We are looking at alternative power sources, options of buying solar credits etc.

‘In the end it will come down to the marinas, ports and yacht clubs who will make the decision on how to best power the water pump for the Seabins. Solar power may not be an option for some marinas, whereas wind energy may be. Or maybe some local governments may choose to turn off their public water feature fountains in order to run the Seabins that collect ocean plastics from their waterways.

‘There are a lot of ways to run the Seabins more sustainably and we are up for the challenge of this’.